zuccotti park

Paul Isaac, of Flatbush, Brooklyn overlooks Zuccotti Park, surveying the crowd for signs of confrontation. As a member of the security force within occupy wall street, Isaac coordinates with other members via hand held radio, if incidents break out. Photo by Eric Zerkel

During the 18 days Occupy Wall Street has commandeered lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park, confrontation appeared to be limited to clashes between protestors and police. But with growing support, vocal public dissent has begun to penetrate the ranks of the Zuccotti stronghold, leaving protestors scrambling for methods to manage the swollen ranks of the occupied faithful.

One such method is the creation of Occupied Security, a rag tag group of 20 or so protestors that monitors the park in search of altercations.

Suited up in a yellow t-shirt with the word “security” crudely stenciled on the front, Occupied Security member Paul Isaac, 42, of Flatbush, Brooklyn, stood atop one of the many elevated park planters, relaying information via a hand held radio to other security members scattered throughout the area.

“We are a non-violent, peaceful demonstration, and that’s the way we would like to keep it,” Isaac said. “Unfortunately, we have agent provocateurs who are looking to distract the message of peace and come in and cause a scene. We’re trying to pick out these people before any problems occur.”

Yet despite their collective efforts, altercations do occur. After one man came into the park today and called the protestors, “Welfare communists,” a verbal spat ensued between about 20 protestors and the dissenter. Handheld foghorns blared, and the protestors drowned out the dissenter’s voice with a mocking chorus of the late 60’s hit, “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.”

But the dissenter remained, and the situation escalated, causing Patrick Dore, 23, of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to jump into action.

“He (the dissenter) was making a lot of people feel uncomfortable,” Dore said. “When someone comes in here, in this environment, it gets crazy, you get amped up, everyone’s adrenaline is pumping. So I try to remain calm, and that gets other people to remain calm.”

Dore said he was a part of a de-escalation force within the protestors, a group separate from the security force that sought to maintain the peace by encouraging others to ignore dissenters and walk away from conflict.

In spite of the protestors collective efforts, the dissenter remained, prompting Dore and others to seek out police assistance. The police declined to help end the situation, Dore said, because the officers maintained that the confines of the park were an open sphere of protest.

“If that had happened outside of the park and on the sidewalk than it would have been a different story,” Dore said.

The situation diffused itself, as the dissenter retreated out of the park and into the ranks of the public, leaving to jeers from the protestor faithful.

Although Dore failed to obtain police assistance, many of the security force members believed that police would have no problem coming to their aide.

Michael Ruso, of Queensbridge, Brooklyn, mans a post at the security information center. As a former Marine, Ruso said he is no stranger to public security. Photo by Eric Zerkel

“We’re here primarily in an assistant capacity,” said Michael Ruso, 45, of Queensbridge, Brooklyn, who manned a post at the information center for security and is a former Marine. “If something gets out of hand obviously the police will take over.”

Though the officer declined to speak on the matter, the disparity between police orders and protestor security forces poses a potential risk, should situations escalate.

“Police are going to follow the orders of their commander,” said Issac. “I’m sure if the situation gets out of control, they will come in and render us assistance.”

Ruso said there have also been incidents involving not just those with opposing views coming into the camp, but also fights within the Occupy Wall Street crowd.

“We’ve had a couple of incidents with people trying to be trouble makers, but what are you going to do?” Ruso said. “We can’t kick people out. This is a free public space. Live and let live, you know?”

Brendan Anderson has lived at Occupy Wall Street for six days and noticed more people visiting every day. Photo by Chris Palmer

A week ago, Toby Stewart got out of the shower and flipped his TV to CNN. He was getting ready to put on his uniform and head to work at Taco Bell, but he couldn’t stop watching the coverage of Occupy Wall Street, the demonstration filling Lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park.

The anti-corporate, disenfranchised spirit of the rally resonated with Stewart. Though he had a job, he had been unable to pay his bills for a few months, and he couldn’t find extra work where he lived, in Pueblo, Colo.

So he made a decision: he quit his job and headed to Occupy Wall Street.

“I told my friends, ‘You only live once,’” the 34-year-old said.

He was unhappy at work and the protest inspired him to take action.

“I figured if I was going to be depressed, going nowhere, it’d be better to come here, to New York City,” he said.

Stewart, who arrived in Manhattan this morning after spending 50 hours on a series of Greyhound buses, is one of a legion of new additions to the 3-week-old Occupy Wall Street movement, which is growing both in New York City and across the world.

“There are twice the amount of people here (today),” said Brendan Anderson, of Midland Beach, Staten Island. The unemployed 22-year-old has spent six straight days in Zuccotti Park and nodded emphatically when asked if the scene was different now from when he first arrived.

“Everyday it’s growing,” he said.

Eric Seligson, who volunteers with the library at the occupation site, said that there were thousands of people at the site this weekend. Photo by Chris Palmer

Eric Seligson, 65, who volunteers at the occupation’s library, said that he noticed a huge spike in attendance over the weekend after police arrested 700 protesters marching across the Brooklyn Bridge. The Greenpoint, Brooklyn native estimated that there were 2,000 people in the park on Sunday, the day after the arrests, and about 1,000 on Monday.

“If the cops thought (the arrests) would discourage people, they were wrong,” he said.

Schall, 27, a student at Brooklyn College who lives in Pelham Bay in the Bronx, has visited two or three times a week since the movement launched September 17. She said there are more people at the site each times she visits.

“It seems to be growing every day,” she said.

That growth has been fueled in part by an amalgam of different visitors to the Occupy Wall Street site. In addition to new protesters, the site has received media members, celebrities, tourists, activist groups and politicians in recent days.

Rosen was volunteering with a group seeking petition signatures against hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a drilling procedure used by natural gas companies to extract gas from rocks deep beneath the earth’s surface.

She freely admitted that the reason her group chose to visit Occupy Wall Street was because of the amount of people at the park.

“I thought it was going to be a real hype-filled site,” said Rosen, who also was promoting a book she authored. She wandered the park with a clipboard and leaflets in hand, talking with anyone who would listen, and she noted that her efforts so far had been “very successful.”

Another visitor hoping to engage with protestors was Republican City Councilman Daniel J. Halloran III. While defending the availability of jobs in his home district of northeast Queens, he bemoaned corporate greed and answered questions from a swarm of interested observers.

“Corporations need to be broken up,” he said at one point, motioning towards the skyscrapers that tower over the park. “They’re not monopolies, but they’re monopolistic.”

As more guests and observers visit Zuccotti Park in Manhattan, the Occupy Wall Street movement is also picking up steam in other cities. Similar encampments have sprouted up in Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C., and multiple trade unions, including the Transport Workers Union, the United Federation of Teachers, and the Service Employees International Union, will participate in an Occupy Wall Street march tomorrow.

Kristen Carter, 46, a tourist visiting the site from Rhinebeck, N.Y., said that the more support the movement received, the more likely it was that change would occur.

“I think it’s coalescing,” she said.

And Stewart, who plans to search for work in New York while living at the occupation site, hopes that all of the increased attention leads to real change.

“The more solidarity we can get, the more support, the better,” he said. “’Til then, we’re just a bunch of hippies in a park.”

Shawn “Hero” Vincent is an important man these days within Zuccotti Park, the block-long rectangular plaza in Lower Manhattan that, boxed in by skyscrapers and dark uniformed police, feels like the bottom of an urban canyon. A tall 21-year-old with wild and frizzy black hair, Vincent could barely move a few steps yesterday without someone shouting out “Hero!” or being the recipient of a ferocious high-five.

“It’s an incredible feeling,” said a beaming Vincent of his sudden rock-star status inside ‘Liberty Square,’ as his fellow protesters have dubbed the park. Vincent has emerged as a leader among “Occupy Wall Street” activists, a ragtag civilian army that seized control of this territory September 13 to protest U.S. financial system inequality, among other progressive causes. Several hundred protesters camp out here every night.

Vincent described his job title here as “public relations facilitator.” But outside the confines of Liberty Square, things have been difficult for Vincent. Unemployed for two months now, he recently returned to his family’s North Carolina home, where he had to deal with “family tensions.” His sister is struggling to pay for college. His father has been out of work for two years, a reality Vincent called “ridiculous” and “outrageous.”

“It’s a hard point of life to be there, but it’s something we have to deal with,” said Vincent, sounding determined. “That’s why I’m here fighting.”

Within moments, however, Hero re-emerged at the center of a media frenzy, smiling for a TV crew, and standing alongside Russell Simmons, the business magnate who came here to show his support. For the next half-hour or so, the two walked around together and chatted like long-time pals; every so often, Simmons could be seen slapping Vincent on the back.

“He’s really cool,” said Vincent, speaking about Simmons as though the two were collaborating on a record. “I like Russell.”

For many protesters like Vincent, the past two weeks here have been life changing. The responsibilities they’ve taken on, and the human connections they’ve made, have injected them with hope, filled life voids, and even erased boredom.

One volunteer in dire need of a morale boost was Steve Smith, 24, who has been seeking employment for the past two months.

“I was getting pretty frustrated,” admitted the Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn resident, noting that non-stop phone calls and regular interviews have yet to bring him luck. “I have so much debt and no job.”

“I said, ‘I’m not doing anything else with my life and why not come down here?’”

At Liberty Square, people rely on Smith. A trained first responder, Smith volunteers at the medical station, administering basic first aid and handing out vitamins to depleted protesters.

“It’s really important [work],” said the tall, goateed Smith, who stuck makeshift Red Cross logos all over his clothes using red tape. “I don’t have to worry about getting depressed or getting down because I have something to keep me happy. It makes me feel great.”

Some volunteers are unemployed, but others, like 24-year-old graphic and web designer Drew Hornbein, have full-time jobs. Hornbein earns approximately $60,000 a year working out of his Crown Heights, Brooklyn brownstone.

“I have a great job. I make plenty of money,” Hornbein said. “But there is a certain emptiness to it, you know?”

Since joining the cause September 17, Horbein has been involved in “facilitating to show the outside world what we’re doing.”

Every day, Hornbein rides his bike here over the Brooklyn Bridge, then tries to nab a seat at the media center, a series of granite benches on the park’s east end where tech-savvy “occupiers” stare at laptops and help beam the park’s happenings worldwide. Sometimes, Hornbein stays here until 3 or 4 a.m.

“I’ve never been dedicated to anything [like this] in my entire life,” he said, his face radiating with joy. “I haven’t even checked Facebook. It’s amazing.”

“I’ve completely dropped all my work,” he added, his enthusiasm level escalating by the word. “I come out here, I have great conversations, I work towards something. But I don’t get paid for it. I don’t want to get paid for it.”

At dusk, a festive vibe overtook the park: a saxophone and drum-led jamming circle, accompanied by sporadic yelps of joy, echoed from the park’s western edge. Chants broke out. There was a repeated whistle blowing, as if this were the inside of a dance club.

“I feel so connected,” said Hornbein. “When you come here, everyone smiles at each other. And we’re all happy.”

Some held signs proclaiming, “End the Fed,” others, “Stop Corporate Greed.” Some wore polo shirts and khaki pants, others went topless. Some slept, others pleaded to passersby to hear out their cause. But beneath the vanity of their disorganized appearance, organization took shape.

The group, known collectively as “Occupy Wall Street”, has occupied Zuccoti Park, a few blocks from Wall Street, since last Saturday. And while individuals among the group champion distinctly different causes, the group as a whole opposes what they call the rule of 1 percent, the wealthy corporate owners and politicians.

“We are amongst the 99 percent, said Joe Hill, 29, of Flushing Queens. “We represent the everyday person. We have some here who have student debt, some who can’t afford healthcare for themselves or their children. We are here to reclaim the country for the 99 percent.”

Hill works as an independent contractor in the entertainment industry during the day, but suits up as a member of the Outreach Committee within Occupy Wall St. at night. The Committee is designed to spread awareness to the public and its members line the outskirts of the park, passing out flyers and speaking to passersby.

Protestor Joe Hill, talks with other other Outreach Committee members about the rules of protest. Photo by Eric Zerkel

“I have a son and parents and I’m concerned about how the one percent’s governing affects the future education of my son and the retirement of my parents,” Hill said.

Armed with a backpack full of electronics, Hill pulled out an iPad which outlined the rules of protest. Hill said the rules were derived from consensus, formed during a general assembly held within the park and among the collective group Friday, evening.

The committee echoed them to the crowd before yesterday’s march.

“Number one! No physical violence!” yelled a committee member to the crowd, a Dunkin Donuts coffee in one hand. “No physical violence!” the protestors bellowed back in unison. “Number 5! Respect diversity of tactics, but be aware of how your actions can affect the larger group!”

With the ground rules established, the group, led by the beat of drums, marched on Wall St. all the while yelling out, “Occupy Wall Street, all day, all week!”

But not all of the members marched in protest. Some individuals stayed behind to man posts at various organizations within the park.

One such group occupied a post in the center of the park, organizing and preparing food for their fellow protestors. The public donated all the food, from bananas and apples to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and pizza.

“There is no hierarchy here,” said Dmitry Sheynim, 25, of Fair Lawn, NJ. “I came here because I believe people can live without propaganda, but they can’t live without food.”

Even without a structured hierarchy, the food center workers figured out how to organize where help was needed. One food worker said that organization wasn’t needed because people gravitated towards jobs that fit their strengths.

Protestors organize food distribution. Photo by Eric Zerkel

And gravitate they did. They gravitated to medical centers where some offered basic first aid. They gravitated to a communication center where artists crafted posters to help protestors identify the various centers of organization within the park. They even gravitated to a media center where some worked tirelessly on Apple computers to broadcast a live stream of the day’s events.

“We’re running an experiment here,” said Jason Coniglione, 24, of Scarsdale, NY., who helped craft posters at the communication station. “Literally we’ll take anyone off the street who wants to participate in our system. We’re incredibly diverse, but if we can stay organized despite the police presence, and despite public perception, it shows that if you encourage people to participate we’ll live in a much better world.”

In spite of all their progress organizing the camp, the protestors remained hopeful that their progress would not go stale.

“This has only been going on a week, but look how far we’ve come,” Coniglione said. “I can’t wait to see what we accomplish in a month, a year, and as time goes on.”